STANDISH — Part of a research project in Amy Malcolm’s third grade class requires each student to write a letter to a mayor of a city in Michigan to learn more about other areas of the state.

One particular student, Cutter Freeman, was notified that his information from Saint Ignace Mayor Paul Grondin would be received in a rather unusual way.

According to Malcolm, last week Grondin requested to present the information about Saint Ignace in person, along with State Representative Tim Moore — Grondin’s cousin.

“This is my favorite part of the job,” Grondin said. “I figure if they can take the time to write a letter to me, then I can take the time to drive down and spend some time with them.

“So I talked to Tim’s (Moore) staffer, told him what was up and thought it’d be a pretty cool thing to do something special like this for Cutter and make him the big man on campus, so to speak. Then we found out it was his birthday, too. It’s nice to be able to do this for him.”

On Feb. 2, Freeman’s birthday, Grondin and Moore presented Freeman with an honorary certificate making him a junior representative of Michigan and shared information about Saint Ignace in front of the entire Standish-Sterling Elementary third grade, which also included a question and answer period.

Grondin and Moore discussed, with students, the population, climate and their childhood growing up in Saint Ignace for over an hour, as well as describing the tasks their jobs as mayor and representative entail. The students asked many questions of the duo ranging from “what do you do all day?” to “how much did you spend on campaign signs?” to “have you ever been bored at a meeting?”

Malcolm says the students will compile their information onto a poster to share with the class in May and students will then be able to compare notes on the history, population and other features of their cities as a whole learning experience.